Microblogs Slam Internet Blockage

Updated 25 May, 2013, 6:56 pm IST

Friday July 15 09:47 am

Follow us on TWITTER http //twitter.com/cnforbiddennews Like us on FACEBOOK http //www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews Microblogs and other new media are increasingly becoming a hot spot for first-hand news. China has more than 60 million microbloggers. 20% of major social events in China in 2010 were first reported through microblogs. An increasing number of Chinese netizens send messages from cell phones to microblogs. From initially expressing their feelings, the bloggers now use the microblogs to disclose social events. Analysis showed that the micro-blogs have a revolutionary impact on the news and mass media. On July 13, "2011 Blue book of Social Opinion" was published by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. According to the Blue Book, year 2010 saw the rapid growth of microblogging. In 2010, out of 138 hot social events, 22 were first revealed on microblogs. The proportion of hot events revealed by microblogging jumped from 0% in 2009 to 16% in 2010. Also, most of the social public opinion events involved microblogging. It is understood that the reason of microblogs』 rapid growth is the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) blockage of their overseas competitors, such as Facebook and Twitter. Therefore, a space was created for China's homemade microblogs. On July 11, according to an article from Voice of America, fearing that Twitter might break its information blockage, the CCP blocked Twitter. Blockage of the U.S.-headquartered Twitter brought a great opportunity for the development of the Chinese microblogs. They have become successful in breaking the CCP's information blockage. Therefore, the CCP's success in blocking Twitter is bringing its own downfall. The article said that this view on China is the consensus of foreign media. Rights Activist Mr. Sun Why CCP is so afraid of microblogging? Because the microblogs provide people with the only platform in China, where people can freely exchange opinions. Microblogs' popularity comes from their ability to expose breaking news, to encourage public opinions, to break the CCP's monopoly of press and information and their speediness. The CCP cannot delete the messages on microblogs as fast as they are posted. For example, at 10 30 p.m. on July 10, a microblogger named "Hong Kong journalist" posted a video of CCP leader Hu Jintao's conversation with a Japanese school pupil on his visit to an elementary school in Yokohama, Japan. Japanese pupil Grandpa Hu, why do you want to be a chairman?" Hu Jintao "I didn't want to be chairman. It's because all Chinese people elected me to be the chairman. I should live up to the expectations of Chinese people. " Within 24 hours, this post was copied 2,150 times, and it received 830 comments. This greatly embarrassed the CCP officials in charge of controlling the public opinions. Although the CCP blocked the microblog of "Hong Kong journalist" immediately afterwards, other media reported the discussions of this post, as well as the negative comments about Hu. Activist Mr. Sun said that it is almost impossible to block comments on microblogs, as long as Netizens have a little bit computer skills. Rights Activist Mr. Sun "I archive all my microblog posts in my computer. If the authorities block my microblog, I will simply blog again with a new account. The CCP's suppression of microblogs has gone into a circle. The harder it oppresses, the more people resist. The CCP dare not give people freedom of expression, because it fears the loss of its power. On the book release conference of "2011 Blue book of Social Opinion", some experts said that Chinese netizens can bypass the CCP's great firewall (i.e. GFW) to visit overseas websites. They said this might jeopardize China's state security, so the authorities should control it. As Chinese authorities' blockage of Twitter brings to themselves the impact of microblogs, what will result if they try to further strengthen the management and control of the Internet and speech? NTD reporters Dai Jing,Shang Yan and Li An' an. 《神韵》2011世界巡演新亮点 http //www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/